Mumbai rains brings city to its knees

Mumbai: Torrential rain alongside strong winds pummelled Mumbai, having a negative impact on rail, road and air services, uprooting trees, swamping homes, and bringing the megapolis and satellite towns to their knees. On an expected note, pople’s woes were compounded by the high tide that prevented natural drainage of water into the sea. According to weather department sources, Mumbai recorded copious rain of 65 mm in just three hours. So many vehicles were stranded on arterial roads in Lower Parel,&hellip;

Mumbai: Torrential rain alongside strong winds pummelled Mumbai, having a negative impact on rail, road and air services, uprooting trees, swamping homes, and bringing the megapolis and satellite towns to their knees.

On an expected note, pople’s woes were compounded by the high tide that prevented natural drainage of water into the sea. According to weather department sources, Mumbai recorded copious rain of 65 mm in just three hours.

So many vehicles were stranded on arterial roads in Lower Parel, Dadar, Kurla, Andheri, Khar West, Ghatkopar, Sion and Hindmata areas that were under knee to waist deep water for several hours, many having broken down.

Suburban rail services, the lifeline of the metropolis, were thrown out of gear.

On the other side of the coin, train services on all three suburban railway lines– Central, Western and Harbour lines–have been paralysed.

Not much of a surprise that commuters were seen standing under knee deep water on the steps of buses in low lying areas like Parel.

Taking action immediately, PM Modi spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the situation arising due to incessant rains and promised all possible support from the Centre.

“Spoke to Maharashtra CM @Dev_Fadnavis on the situation arising due to incessant rain in Mumbai & surrounding areas,” Modi tweeted.

“Centre assures all possible support to the government of Maharashtra in mitigating the situation due to heavy rains in parts of the state,” he added. The metropolis has received heavy rainfall since last night. Between 8.30 am and 12 pm on August 29th, the city received 85 mm rainfall, Sudhir Naik, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, declared.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the State Disaster Management Control (SDMC) room and took stock of the situation.

“I have asked employees at Mantralaya, the state secretariat to leave for their homes. Employees in other offices have also been allowed to head to their homes. We have advised (private) offices to allow their employees to leave for their homes early,” Fadnavis said.